Our commissions are often ‘place-based’, inviting creative practitioners to respond to a particular place. This has included cities, towns, beaches and waterways, National Trust sites, forests, and even a housing development that has not yet been built. Many commissioned artists take a ‘residency’ approach, spending time in those places with local people and community groups who they have invited to be project participants.

To see examples of the kind of projects we support, the best place to start is at our commissions page for an overview of the projects we’ve commissioned over the years.

Successful projects have put communities at the heart of the creative process, while also being central to the artists’ practice and own lines of enquiry. Commissions can capture the spirit of place, give people a voice, connect communities and let people tell their own story in their own words.

We do not tend to support projects that propose large public artworks, such as permanent or semi-permanent sculptures or structures, which often require planning permissions and ongoing maintenance that can challenge the budget and timeline available. We also do not support projects that have little or no community participation.

Our commission call outs are open to creative practitioners working across any media, at any levels of career, as individuals or as part of a collective or a company. This includes, but is not limited to, visual artists, digital artists, writers, poets, performers, theatre practitioners, musicians, dancers and multimedia artists. We ask that you are registered as self-employed, as you will be responsible for paying your own taxes.

We are keen to support diverse practitioners and those working in diversity, to develop their socially engaged and participant-led projects and practices, which often means projects that work with, or in response to, diverse people and communities.

We don’t tend to support funded organisations as lead applicants (such as venues, galleries, museums, festival organisers, trusts, art centres, local authorities, other commissioners or NPOs etc) although feel free to garner their in-kind support, if it helps to strengthen your project and aid delivery. Instead, these types of organisations are often our commission partners or hosts.

Our core mission is to energise diversity in arts and heritage. We know that diversity is different for everyone. Diversity for us means: Cultural diversity | Different ethnic backgrounds | Low socio-economic backgrounds | LGBTQ+ | Disability | Neurodiversity | or an intersection of these

We are looking for projects that engage with: Deprived communities | marginalised voices | communities with little or no access to the Arts | those who are culturally curious or want to connect with where they live in different ways.

In your expression of interest / proposal, we don’t expect you to tell us what diversity is or why it’s important (that’s our job) – instead tell us how your project explores or promotes diversity through its core themes, or needs and interests of its participants, how diversity has shaped your creative practice, and the diverse communities you work with.

The Primadonna Festival commission has a two-stage application process; STAGE ONE is a call for ‘expressions of interest’. Five artists/potential projects will then be shortlisted and invited to continue to STAGE TWO, when they will be offered £200 to work up a project proposal and attend an interview in December.

To apply in the first instance, please email your ‘Expression of Interest’ to jo@essexcdp.com by midnight on 31 October and include the following:

• An outline of your artistic concept or creative starting points for the project / approach to the commission (we suggest no more than 400 words).
• How your practice and proposed project explores or promotes diversity (we suggest no more than 200 words).
• Some info about you and your work. This could be a short biography with visual examples of previous work / a CV / links to your website and social media.
• A completed Commissioning Monitoring Form: https://bit.ly/commission-monitoring-doc

We accept written, verbal or video expressions of interest for this commission.

Expressions of Interests for commissions and proposals are usually shortlisted by a panel of at least three people representing the commissioners, on the strength of the following:

• Response to the brief and relevance to ‘Place’
  Evidenced in your outline of the artistic concept and creative starting points for the project
• Creative practice
  Evidenced in your CV, website, social media and/or bio
• Diversity and potential benefits to participants
  We look at how your practice and project explores diversity, and how you engage the community.
• Track record and project management
  Evidenced in past projects – we look for ability to deliver the project on budget and on time.

We are here for a 1-2-1 if you have any questions, or if you want to talk through your ideas, the commissioning process and ideas.

Email Jo at jo@essexcdp.com to arrange a meeting or a call.

ECDP and our commission partners are committed to minimising the potential for negative impacts on the environment. ECDP as an NPO (National Portfolio Organisation) has a leadership role in the arts/cultural sectors and can therefore have a positive impact on environmental sustainability as we have for issues relating to diversity. This is relevant to the commissioning programme for artists, and at the main proposal stage we are always keen that those interested in our commissions consider how they will reduce the impact of their work on the environment. For example, the use of materials – consider whether they are recyclable, made from recycled materials, or can be repurposed after the commission. The aim of this will be to reduce the waste from commissions/exhibitions and the use of non-recyclable materials where possible. Artists should consider where possible choosing accessible locations for activities and events – locations that can be easily accessed by public transport or walking as well as by older people. We accept that this can be challenging for less central locations. You may wish, for example, to consider including transport in your budget if public transport is a particular challenge.

The budget for the commission is £9,000 (including VAT). This will be treated as a grant, and paid to the creative practitioner(s) in three instalments at the start, middle and end of the project (the last payment will be released upon receipt of a final evaluation report).

The budget should cover ALL PROJECT COSTS such as fees, expenses, travel, participant recruitment, event costs, and materials. General marketing for the commission can be undertaken in partnership with ECDP and other partners as appropriate.

We do not tend to select projects that are only partly funded by the £9K budget, especially if additional fundraising is needed before or within the project’s main timelines, which could affect the commission being delivered on time and to budget.